Washington (April 12, 2018) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to complete many overdue safety rulemakings without delay. NHTSA has missed at least ten key statutory rulemaking deadlines under the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, putting drivers, passengers and the public at risk. These rulemakings include rear seatbelt reminders, updating tire pressure monitoring regulations, retention of safety records by auto manufacturers, and improved child LATCH restraint systems, among others.
“For decades, Congress has worked on a bipartisan basis to enact laws to improve automobile safety and reduce vehicle-related fatalities,” write the Senators in their letter to Heidi King, Deputy Administrator of NHTSA. “These acts of Congress cannot have their life-saving impact if they are not actually implemented. We urge you to implement these provisions without delay.”
A copy of the letter can be found HERE.
To better understand the cause for these missed deadlines, the status of the rulemakings, and the expected completion dates, the Senators request that Acting Administrator King answer the following questions regarding the incomplete safety rulemakings:
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